Ratings
Ratings are based on a four star system.
One star means that the commercials are more entertaining than the program.
Two stars watch if you have nothing better to do.
Three stars is good solid entertainment.
Four stars means you never dreamed television could be this good.

So. This was the infamous Star Trek meets the World Wrestling Federation, which was
supposed to be as bad for Voyager as "Spock's Brain" was for the original Trek. Sorry. I kind
of enjoyed it, even the fighting. Full disclosure: I didn't mind "Spock's Brain" all that much -- I
liked, for example, the fact that the Planet of Buxom Stewardesses was part of solar system.

Which naturally leads into a lengthy soul searching analysis. Why do I have contempt for
Professional Wrestling but enjoy the equally fake fights in James Bond films? Why do I think
Jessie Ventura is a kook but am secretly delighted that he is governor of Minnesota?

What I tell myself about Professional Wrestling from a lofty position of almost total
ignorance is that it pretends to be a "sport" while the James Bond films are openly fiction.

Granted, the characterization in the two genres is roughly equal, it is the pretense that offends
me. That is, come to think of it, a mighty thin rationalization on my part. Tell you what, if
Professional Wrestling ever introduces speedboats, railway trains, and helicopters, I'll give it a
try.

As for Jessie Ventura, he is democracy in action. Think about it. The Power That Be
could have said, "This is ridiculous. A Professional Wrestler can't be governor. We'll just set
aside his election and give the office to the runner up." They could have done that. They are,
after all, Powers. But they didn't. Which proves that we really do live in a democracy. If I were
George W. Bush or Al Gore, I'd be shaking in my boots.

As for the Voyager, while I was really hoping to see Capt. Janeway mud wrestle Hulk
Hogan, I have to admit that the script was tight, the fight sequences exciting, and the special
effects better than those in most low-budget theatrical films. A Professional effort all the way.

The X-Files, "Sein und Zeit" and "Closure" (***) written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz

We really do find out what happened to Samantha Mulder.

No, I'm not going to tell you. Watch the episode.

Chris Carter decided to go sentimental rather than conspiratorial with this episode, and so
emotion takes precedence over revelation. I would have liked to see more of the Cigarette
Smoking Man. He has a very brief appearance in Part Two and Scully remarks that he does not
look well. I assume that William B. Davis is not in good health. Macabre thought though it is, I
hope Chris Carter has the good sense to film him on a lot of different sets saying various cryptic
things so that his character can continue to appear for years after the actor has received "the gift
of Iluvatar". One of the best things about Dark Shadows was that when a character was killed, it
meant that their role became even more important in the series. The X-Files has many of the
virtues of Dark Shadows, without the schlock production values.

Given its basically sentimental tone, this two part episode does not, as the first part might
have you believe, out-and-out contradict what has gone before. It just forces you to deduce for
yourself that Cigarette Smoking Man took cells from Samantha and turned them over to the
aliens, who made the clones who keep bees and provided one clone for Cigarette Smoking Man,
who wanted her for reasons best known to himself.

What I most admire here is that this episode does not try to gloss over the fact that the
innocent suffer needlessly, including the children and the mother falsely jailed. As in life, there
is no reason to their suffering and no end. And the question, why some suffer and others are
spared, is not answered. But it is at least explicitly asked.